- Reclaim the Streets!    582 kb by    Duyar-Kienast, Umut | umut_duyar@web.de    Short Outline As a result of a participatory planning process, the City Council and community in an informal settlement in Inhambane/Mozambique agreed in demarcating access paths in densely built neighbourhoods to avoid occupation of common space by individuals. Abstract Reclaim the streets! : Results of a participatory planning process in an informal neighbourhood – Inhambane/Mozambique After a Portuguese colonial background and a prolonged civil war (1977-92) Mozambique has been ruled by the socialist party Front for the Liberation of Mozambique. Since the end of 1980s the land has experienced economic and political liberalization. Mozambican cities are mostly composed of a cement city and adjacent informal neighbourhoods with reed houses on an irregular street pattern, which have been growing since the civil war due to the rapid rural-to-urban migration. During the typical informal densification process, habitants are expanding their living area beyond the passages and paths between the houses resulting in dense housing areas narrower paths. Consequently, it is very difficult for the local authorities to keep records of cadastre and supply infrastructure in these areas, like solid waste collection and allocation of water. The lack of access paths within the neighbourhood makes it impossible to respond to cases of emergency, like fires and floods. August 2005 City Council of Inhambane began to conduct an urban upgrading project in an informal settlement with the technical assistance of German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) to secure tenure rights in informal housing areas and accelerate the process of providing basic infrastructure. To achieve these aims, participatory planning methods were applied: community mapping, public hearings and planning workshops with local representatives. The focus of the municipality was to follow socially and environmentally sensitive methods and respond to the specific necessities in infrastructure by using local materials and local labour. The result of the planning phase was the decision to reoccupy public space in this densely built neighbourhood and re-use it for public interest. The community and the Council agreed in demarcating access roads to save them for common use and avoid occupation by individuals. Keywords participatory planning, urban upgrading Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2006: Cities between Integration and Disintegration   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper